This invention relates to a unique method for selecting and developing new products for introduction into the marketplace.
Each year individuals and small businesses conceive of thousands of ideas or concepts for new products. Few of these new product ideas, however, are ever developed and brought into the marketplace. Consequently, few inventors ever realize any financial gain as a result of their inventions. There are a variety of reasons why so few new product ideas progress to ultimate market introduction. A significant barrier is the financial expense relative to new product development which includes evaluation of marketability, patentability, and technical feasibility. Additional expense is incurred relative to product design, proprietary protection of the intellectual property encompassing the product, prototype development, etc. Further, few inventors pursue development of their new product ideas because completion of the above mentioned steps does not guarantee success in the marketplace. Only the xe2x80x9cbestxe2x80x9d new products are ultimately successful.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a method for new product development which increases the expectation of financial return and decreases the cost of product development to individual inventors. Further, it is desirable to have a method for new product development which provides financial return to all inventor participants even if only a single new product idea progresses to market introduction.
It is therefore a general object of this invention to provide a method for developing new products for introduction into the marketplace.
Another object of this invention is to provide a method, as aforesaid, for accumulating new product ideas in a pool.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a method, as aforesaid, for selecting a new product idea from the pool for further development and market introduction.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a method, as aforesaid, for developing a selected new product idea through concept design engineering.
A further object of this invention is to provide a method, as aforesaid, for acquiring a degree of proprietary protection for the intellectual property which encompasses a selected new product idea.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a method, as aforesaid, for licensing the right to make, use, sell, and/or distribute a selected new product to a manufacturer.
A particular object of this invention is to provide a method, as aforesaid, for distributing royalty revenue generated from the licensing of the selected new product to the registrant of the selected idea, the registrants of non-selected ideas, and the pool manager.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of this invention.
These objects are accomplished according to a method in which one or more pools or funds are established into which ideas, concepts, or partially developed products are registered by individual or small business registrants. Each pool receives new product ideas related to a particular technology area or patent classification. When a predetermined number of new product registrations has been received within a pool, the marketability, patentability, and technical feasibility are evaluated by a pool manager and at least one idea is selected, based on the evaluation, for product development and market introduction. Product development is funded by new idea registration fees.
The selected registration is developed through design engineering so as to optimally fulfill its utility function and market niche. When the selected registration has been fully developed into a viable new product, the intellectual property encompassing the invention may be legally protected by filing and prosecuting one or more United States or foreign patent applications.
Upon issuance of a patent relative to the selected registration, the right to make, use, sell, and/or distribute the product encompassed by the patent is licensed to a manufacturer for ultimate market introduction. The pool manager undertakes efforts to identify and market the new product to potential licensees. The rights granted by the license are given to a manufacturer in exchange for royalties on sales of the new product during the term of the patent. A portion of the royalties generated through product sales is distributed first to the owner of the patent covering the selected new product registration. A second portion of the royalties that is smaller than the first portion is equally distributed to the pool registrants whose new product ideas were not selected for further development and market introduction. A third portion of the royalties that is smaller than the first portion is distributed to the manager of the pool. Thus, while the party who initially registered the new product idea receives the largest portion of eventual royalty revenues, each registrant in the pool receives a portion as well over the term of the patent.